In reply to:


There are 16 million SUVs (I'll guess out of 200 million vehicles). Each of those vehicles gets 21 mpg instead of 28.

So 12.5% of our vehicles are SUVs. SUVs are 25% less efficient than small cars. Therefore, less than 4% of our consumer gas usage is excess used by SUVs and only 12% of that, or less than half of one percent of our total consumer gas usage, is relevant here.



But 1 in 4 New vehicles sold last year were SUVs [figures released by Detroit car makers], so while the percentage of SUV's on the road is now (maybe) 12%, that percentage is increasing every year, and will do for years to come as more and more SUV's as a percentage of all vehicles sold, are sold each year, and older vehicles age and are scrapped.

So the percentage of SUV's on the road will only go up therefore the national average "gas milage" (total distance of all vehicles driven in a year, divided by the amount of fuel they consume) will go down - right now, the overall "average" gas mileage of US vehicles is not much better than it was before the oil shocks of 1973.

And thats despite nearly 30 years of improvements to vehicle technology and major changes to engine design and just about everything else.

The popularity of SUVs are widely acknowledged (by everyone except Detroit it seems) as one of the core reasons why the US national average MPG figures have not improved much in recent years, and in fact have gone backwards from the late 80's.

Also note that half of all oil imported by the US, is bought from Saudia Arabia, which is a country which is effectively a dictatorship, and its current dictator (the House of Saud) is one of the main reasons (amoungst a few others) why bin Laden made the events of 9/11 happen.

Because he [bin Laden] wants the House of Saud to fall, and the main thing keeping the House of Saud propped up is sales of oil to the US - and US miltary stationed in the Middle East - and its those military bases in [and the attendant "westernisation" they bring to] Saudi Arabia that make bin Laden so annoyed with the US.

Also note - its no co-incidence that so many - over half of the Hijackers on 9/11 were Saudi Arabian citizens - bin Laden is himself one - or was one until they [Saudi Arabia] stripped him of his Saudi citizenship and passport.

The other fact is that the current oil reserves in the US are estimated to have only 10 years left. With new oil discoveries in the next 10 years in the continental US very unlikely.

When those domestic wells start running dry, then the amount of foreign oil the US imports will only increase, and todays SUVs will be drinkin' at the well for some years to come.